VNU Net: Apache is chief on websites worldwide

By John Leyden, VNU Net
Apache... is now used on more than 10 million websites worldwide, gaining more than a million new users in the last month. ... Nearly all websites that use Apache run on a variety of Unix...

Apache, the open source Unix web server, is now used on
more than 10 million websites worldwide, gaining more than a
million new users in the last month.

According to figures published today by UK-based internet
consultancy Netcraft, Apache is now used at 10.7 million
sites, compared with 9.1 million at the same point last
month.

Nearly all websites that use Apache run on a variety of Unix,
with many users choosing to download Apache and install it
on Linux, potentially costing them nothing.

Mike Prettejohn, director of Netcraft, said: "Apache is
preferred by hosting companies because it is more scalable,
and most sites are run by hosting companies."

Netcraft's survey received responses from more than 17
million sites. Prettejohn said the number of new sites shows
the rate at which the internet is currently growing.

Apache's share of the internet server market grew from 60
per cent in May to 62 per cent in June, according to the
survey.

In second place, Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS)
fell from around 20.4 per cent to 19.7 per cent, and
Netscape's Enterprise Server held the number three spot with
just under seven per cent.

However, Prettejohn said these figures disguise the growing
use of IIS as a server for secure internet transactions.
Netcraft's figures show that 46 per cent of secure servers
running Secure Socket Layer (SSL) transactions use IIS.

He added that the popularity of IIS for building ebusiness
websites was due to the availability of applications, such as
Site Server, on NT. "Many firms find it easier to build
ecommerce websites using these tools," he said.